Variant Ranger Recaps and Revisions

This article was originally going to be about the third ranger archetype in my rework, but I wasn't really happy with any of the implementations I had in mind once I started working out the numbers. After considering how it would feel in play, I surmised that it would probably be wiser to simply make some modifications to the way the existing Beast Master archetype integrates into my proposed base ranger class.

Further, in this article I will reword some wonky phrasing from previous entries and tie it all off. I've got a new project I want to show off next week and figure it's time to clear the board of this one.

Pack Tactics

My proposal for this base ranger class ability shares action real estate with Yield Ground, and not in a good way. To save you from navigating to older articles, the ability worked like this:

Once the ranger achieves 10th level, they may elect to use their reaction any time an ally makes an attack against an opponent the ranger attacked during the previous round. This attack gains advantage, and if it hits, the ranger may immediately move up to half their speed without suffering opportunity attacks.

I looked at it again after getting some feedback and scrunched up my nose. Apparently I work with legal documents too much, the kind designed to befuddle readers and leave loopholes. I don't like making the ranger pick between this and Yield Ground for the use of their reaction, so here's my new suggestion:

Any time you successfully strike an enemy (with a melee or ranged weapon attack) that belongs to a category you selected for your Peerless Hunter ranger ability, you may give one ally within 30 feet of the victim advantage on their next attack roll against the same monster.

This method doesn't force the ranger to bank their reaction just in case Yield Ground would be useful, and gives some synergy with melee combatants. A ranger using a bow could act as a sneak attack enabler for a rogue that is otherwise alone against an opponent, or just help the fighter out. It's much broader in functionality than a comparable class ability (such as the wolf-totem barbarian's), but is more focused in that the enemy has to be one of the Peerless Hunter favored enemy types.

Mystical Critical

Harbinger remarked that the Seeker's Mystical Critical ability wasn't a comparable damage boost at 11th level, at least not like the ones other classes get. I would contend that since the ability gets more powerful as the Seeker gets better spells (instant conjure volley on a crit at the top end is disgusting), but as usual, he's got a good point.

The old implementation was thus:

The Seeker’s mystical prowess is in many ways reflexive, and upon achieving 11th level they are assisted by natural forces whenever they land telling blows against their enemies. Whenever the Seeker scores a critical hit against a target, they may cast one ranger spell they know with a casting time of one action or one bonus action as a reaction instead. This consumes a spell slot of the relevant level, as normal.

I decided on a complete rework, with an ability now called Mystic Celerity:

Beginning at 11th level, on any round the Seeker casts a ranger spell, they may use their bonus action to make a single weapon attack.

It's a tiny bit weaker compared to the situations in which the previous implementation would be relevant, but encourages the ranger to cast spells more often and then follow them up with a free attack. It's not quite as boring as an Extra Attack, and I was inspired by the Eldritch Knight's War Magic class ability. It might still be too weak though!

The Beast Master

I think this archetype can still work, but it needs adjustments since my variant ranger doesn't cast spells unless you pick Seeker. My idea was less like a ranger that picks only one companion and has them forever, and more like this godawful thing that could get bunches of animals depending on the terrain they were in. So yeah.

As such, my idea is as follows.

Ranger's Companion

As written in the PHB, but this ability becomes available at 2nd level instead.

Empathy with Beasts

Selecting the Beast Master archetype allows the ranger to speak with animals as per the spell, but they may use this ability only once before requiring a short rest.

Exceptional Training

As written in the PHB, but becomes available at 6th level instead.

Bestial Fury

Yet again, identical to the PHB, and is still available at 11th level.

Nimble Companion

Beginning at 15th level, your animal companion has advantage on saving throws against spells and effects that inflict the paralyzed, prone, restrained, or stunned conditions. Furthermore, they suffer only half damage from spell effects that allow a Dexterity saving throw, and suffer none if they succeed.

Undying Companion

Upon achieving 20th level, the ranger may use their action to enter a trance that empowers their animal companion for up to 1 minute. The ranger is treated as though they are concentrating on a spell; thus, if they suffer damage, they must roll to maintain concentration. While the trance holds, the ranger may make a Wisdom saving throw every time the companion would be reduced below zero hit points, with a DC equal to the amount of damage beyond zero the companion would suffer.

If successful, the companion remains at zero hit points and can continue to take actions on the ranger's turn. Should the ranger's concentration break for any reason while the animal companion is at zero hit points, the companion will immediately fall unconscious.

Conclusion!

This brings an end to articles involving my variant ranger. Fun exercise, I like tinkering with classes even if they don't always come out right the first time around. Use at your own risk, and if you do, I'd love to hear the results.

I've got a treat for the next few articles, a return to my Disinterred Eldricity series to resurrect another old campaign setting and modernize it for play in 5th Edition. It's been a lot of fun to work on and I hope you'll feel the same.

Till then!

Variant Ranger Archetype: The Seeker

It's unfortunate how quickly the weeks go by as we enter the last few months of the year. I could swear I only wrote the previous entry last week, not way back at the beginning of the month. I've not forgotten my ranger rework! I sense that the Sentinel didn't go over quite so well, and it surely needs some iteration that I'll get to probably never eventually.

Before I do a post-mortem on the variant ranger, I should probably finish the thought I had in the first place. To wit, here is the second archetype I've been working on, the Seeker.

The Seeker is the spellcasting ranger archetype. They are something of a hybrid between fighters and druids, and their theme is being the intermediary between druidic circles and the outside world. It assumes a conceit (which I tend to use in my games) that there is tension between quasi-political druidic organizations and the civilizations that border their territories. Seekers would be the agents they send to do jobs in and near settled lands, as the druids would be uncomfortable at best and outright unwelcome at worst.

They'd get on well enough with Oath of the Ancients paladins, but the two have different skills and aims. Seekers interface very strongly with their Natural Explorer ranger class feature, as outlined in a previous entry. This makes them a little slow to build to their full strength; they have to take at least one rest in their hunting ground to capitalize on some of their powers, at least until 15th level.

Seeker

A Seeker is a supernatural guardian of wild places. Some orders of Seekers are bound to a single location, such as an ancient wood, while others wander the world offering their services as guides and intermediaries for druid circles. This close relationship with druids and natural creatures gifts the Seeker with supernatural abilities in the form of ranger spells.

Typically, Seekers exist outside of the hierarchical structures of the druids with which they work, which is both a boon and a curse. Under normal circumstances, a Seeker simply has greater autonomy and can operate where the druids are uncomfortable going, such as near or into larger cities. Unscrupulous druids, seeking greater station, may dispatch an unwitting Seeker to perform a task that causes a superior druid to lose face and thus shift the burden of responsibility onto the ranger.

Spellcasting

The Seeker gains the ability to learn and cast ranger spells. The progression and availability of these spells is identical to the Player's Handbook ranger from 2nd level onward. Wisdom is their spellcasting ability score.

Natural Recovery

A trained Seeker knows how to make natural remedies and curatives from the surrounding wilderness. While in environments to which the Seeker is attuned via the Natural Explorer class feature, the Seeker adds their Wisdom modifier (minimum +1) to each hit die rolled by the ranger or by allies during a short rest. Further, they may remove the poisoned condition from any one person (self included) during this short rest.

I briefly entertained not allowing this to be done in Urban environments, but decided to leave it as is. I remarked to Harbinger that it was a bit weird to have ranger-bums feeding you special snacks from the garbage heap in the alley in order to heal you faster, but you know what? That probably works for some people's campaigns. Have fun with it, right?

One With Nature

Once the Seeker achieves 6th level, they become even more deeply in tune with the natural world. While in any terrain they are currently attuned to via their Natural Explorer class ability, the Seeker can instinctively sense the presence of creatures with the beast, fey, or plant type within 60 feet of their position. They do not know the nature of the creatures they can sense if they cannot otherwise see them, but are aware of them and cannot be surprised in combat by creatures of the listed types if they are within 60 feet at the time initiative is rolled.

Mystical Critical

The Seeker’s mystical prowess is in many ways reflexive, and upon achieving 11th level they are assisted by natural forces whenever they land telling blows against their enemies. Whenever the Seeker scores a critical hit against a target, they may cast one ranger spell they know with a casting time of one action or one bonus action as a reaction instead. This consumes a spell slot of the relevant level, as normal.

There are a grand total of two ranger spells I could find that had a casting time greater than one action, but I figured this covered bases in case future Weird Stuff is added. I can't imagine a DM would really care if the ranger snap-casted the alarm spell or commune with nature, but it felt like a stretch to not include the caveat.

Rapid Attunement

Seekers of 15th level or greater easily adjust to their surroundings, giving them access to their signature abilities sooner. The effects of their Natural Explorer class feature come into effect after spending but an hour in the terrain to which they wish to attune, without the need to conduct a rest of any kind.

Favored Ground

The mightiest Seekers of 20th level become terrors to fight on grounds to which they are attuned. So long as the Seeker is attuned to their location via their Natural Explorer feature, they gain the following bonuses:

• Their AC is increased by a value equal to their Wisdom modifier.
• If the terrain is Unimpeded, the ranger's speed increases by an additional 10 feet and has advantage on saving throws against effects that inflict the paralyzed or restrained conditions.
• If the terrain is Impeded, the ranger has advantage on attack rolls against enemies who are in difficult terrain.
• If the terrain is Close-Quarters, the ranger suffers no damage on a successful saving throw from effects that allow a Dexterity save, and half damage if they fail.
• Enemies that are included in categories you have selected via your Peerless Hunter class ability are at disadvantage on saving throws against any spell you cast with them as a target.

And that's what I've got for Seeker! Next time I'll present the Beast Master archetype, and then go into revisions on what I've done so far based on feedback received.

Variant Ranger Archetype: The Sentinel

Hallo! It's been a bit since my last update, but I haven't abandoned my ranger rework! I've been tapped to plan for and run a game at a small local convention, which has eaten up a lot of my creative free time. On the upswing, it let me explore some fun fantasy-Wild-West campaign options that I may rehash for a future article.

Returning to the ranger, I wanted to present the first of three archetypes I've been working on. This is the one that's closest to a first draft, so I figured I'd toss it up for consumption. It needs an editing pass and probably some rewording in some places, and as always, it's not been playtested yet. Initially, my thoughts are that Elusive Guardian may be too... I dunno, weird? And that Adaptive Defense is too powerful. Anyway, here goes!

Sentinel

The Sentinel is a bastion against threats from the wilderness beyond civilization. It is they who intercept and execute humanoid tribal leaders before they can muster to attack villages, or who hunt and slay rampaging dragons that burn their way through the frontier. They are expert guides and are highly skilled at protecting their wards as they escort them through the dangerous wildernesses of the world.

Combat Training

When the ranger selects this archetype at 2nd level, they gain access to the Fighting Styles of Great Weapon Fighter and Protection (which must be selected normally; this archetype merely broadens the selection). They also gain proficiency in Heavy Armor. Their speed is not reduced while wearing heavy armor of any sort.

Relentless Pursuit

Few possess the single-minded determination of the Sentinel. While intent on their prey, they are nearly impossible to shake from their focus. As a bonus action, the Sentinel may select a target as their prey. Prey status persists until the target is slain or the Sentinel elects a new target with a bonus action.

While a victim is the target of this ability, the Sentinel gains advantage on saving throws against spells or effects that originate from the prey. Additionally, at the end of any turn the ranger takes where they are not restrained, incapacitated, or otherwise unable to act or move, they may move 10 feet directly towards their prey. This movement does not provoke opportunity attacks.

Elusive Guardian

A Sentinel is an expert at maneuvering in combat to get allies out of danger and slip in to deliver killing blows on their hated enemies. Beginning at 6th level, the Sentinel may use this ability up to three times, and regains all uses after taking a long rest. Any time one of the following conditions is met, the Sentinel may use their reaction to expend a use of Elusive Guardian to achieve the corresponding effect. The Sentinel must be awake and not subject to conditions that would otherwise render them helpless.

• A hostile target enters the threatened area of an ally within 30 feet. The Sentinel may move up to their movement speed towards the hostile target or, if the enemy belongs to a hated type (per the Peerless Hunter class feature) the ranger may make a single ranged or melee attack against that target.
• An ally is reduced to zero hit points. If the Sentinel may elect to immediately mark the triggering monster as their prey (per the Relentless Pursuit feature) and make a single ranged or melee attack against it.
• An enemy marked as the Sentinel’s prey scores a critical hit against an ally. The Sentinel makes a single ranged or melee attack against that enemy before damage is rolled and, if it hits, the critical hit is negated (damage is rolled as though it were a normal attack).

Extra Attack

The Sentinel may make a third attack whenever they take the Attack action upon reaching 11th level.

Adaptive Defense

Once the Sentinel achieves 15th level, the ranger may focus their defensive training to shore up weaknesses. After any rest the ranger takes, they may choose become proficient in any saving throw in which they are not already proficient for up to four hours.For example, a Sentinel knows they will be going up against a beguiling fey creature that has tormented a local lumber mill for weeks. The ranger, upon tracking the fey to its lair, risks taking a short rest to become proficient in Wisdom saving throws for four hours; hopefully long enough to root out and dispatch the troublesome enemy.

Last Line of Defense

Upon reaching 20th level, the ranger becomes a bastion of defense that enemies cannot easily move past. Whenever the Sentinel is positioned so that they are the only one between the nearest enemy and the nearest ally, their AC is improved by an amount equal to their Wisdom modifier (minimum of +1) and if they succeed on opportunity attacks caused by enemies leaving their threatened area, that enemy becomes restrained until the end of the ranger’s next turn.

A Variant Ranger for 5E, or, "Everybody's Doing It!"

Rangers are still a pretty hot topic in the 5E community of late, and I'd be remiss if I didn't butt in and try my hand at a possible rework. Or three.

I've been pondering different methods of approaching the concept of "wilderness fighter guy" that most rangers tend to be compared to, and while you can't seem to make a single class that compares favorably to all of the popular fictional analogues, I think I can at least take a pass at making it a bit less thorny.

I originally took a stab at doing ranger as a fighter archetype, and it didn't sit right. It ended up feeling more like a Witcher than a ranger, and while that's probably quite alright for some campaign settings, it didn't really work for broad D&D appeal. So I'm backing off of that idea for now and trying something a bit more typical to what D&D has tried before.

There's a really great article over at Loot the Body that articulates my issues with the class a lot better than I did last time. It feels too limited and it impacts its effectiveness in situations you'd prefer a little more flexibility, along with delayed access to abilities that the ranger should really be getting earlier on (that's a really condensed and somewhat unfair summation of the article, forgive me). I've taken a good deal of inspiration from the suggestions in this article, and you'll probably note some similarities with concepts expressed there.

First and foremost, the ranger needs to be a capable and competent warrior, able to stand alongside the fighter and paladin in the front ranks in a pinch. However, they are also a skirmisher, and need to be able to adapt to situations and provide support to allies. To preserve some desired classical ranger flavor, I'm also opting to include a variation on the ranger's spellcasting powers in an archetype (which is going to be a second article lest this become a big ol' TL;DR).

The core ranger as I see it has the following features:

Hit Dice: 1d10 per ranger level.

Armor Proficiencies: Light, Medium, and Shields.

Weapon Proficiencies: Simple and Martial weapons.

Tool Proficiencies: None.

Saving Throws: Strength and Dexterity.

Skills: Choose three from among Animal Handling, Athletics, Insight, Investigation, Nature, Perception, Stealth, and Survival.

Most of this is the same. In regards to the Hit Dice, it's a fighter-type, this seems like a no-brainer. I'm not a fan of the 2d6 hit dice from Ye Auld Ranger or the recent UA reimagining, but it doesn't need to be as fragile as the rogue or as tough as the barbarian. I have a concept for a heavy armor ranger archetype that I'll go into later.

Natural Explorer

The ranger is an expert at surveying the surroundings, adapting to unsavory conditions, and creating contingencies. After concluding a long rest, the ranger gains traits in accordance with the surroundings. The Dungeon Master has final say in the primary component of the terrain in question, but it will always belong to one of the following categories: Arctic, Coast, Desert, Forest, Grasslands, Mountain, Swamp, Underdark, or Urban.

While attuned to a particular type of terrain, the ranger gains the following benefits while navigating in it:

• Difficult terrain does not slow your group's travel while not in combat.
• Your group cannot become lost except by magical means.
• Even when you are engaged in another activity while traveling (such as foraging, navigating, or tracking) you remain alert to danger.
• If you are traveling alone, you can move stealthily at a normal pace.
• When you forage, you find twice as much food as you normally would.
• While tracking other creatures, you also learn their exact number, their sizes, and how long ago they passed through the site.

In addition, you gain a secondary benefit in accordance with the terrain type:

• Unimpeded (Arctic, Coast, Desert, Grasslands): Your speed increases by 10 feet.
• Impeded (Forest, Mountain, Swamp): You ignore the effects of difficult terrain in combat situations and can climb at full speed.
• Close-Quarters (Underdark, Urban): You have advantage on Dexterity saving throws while standing within 5 feet of any solid objects of Medium size or greater, such as a wall, pillar, or large obstruction that would otherwise provide any degree of cover from any angle.

I made some language clarifications here as it pertains to the difficult terrain movement while not in combat. The ranger is no longer limited to just a small handful of terrains; with a bit of preparation, they can study the territory and become truly flexible masters of the wilderness.

Additionally, the ranger gets a minor benefit catering to the terrain, most of which are immediately useful in combat situations.

Peerless Hunter

The ranger is especially skilled at hunting and dispatching prey. At 1st level, the ranger chooses a group from the list below. You have advantage when making Wisdom (Survival) checks to track these foes, or when making Intelligence checks to recall facts about them. Additionally, you know how to hit them where it hurts; you gain a bonus to damage rolls equal to your Wisdom modifier (minimum of +1) against any foe belonging to that category.

• Border Warden: Humanoids (all nonhuman monstrous races, from goblins to giants)
• Bounty Hunter: Humanoids (all player character races presented in the Player's Handbook)
• Destroyer of the Lifeless: Constructs, Oozes, and Undead
• Foe of the Monstrous: Aberrations, Dragons, and Monstrosities
• Nature's Culling: Beasts, Fey, and Plants
• Slayer of Outsiders: Celestials, Elementals, and Fiends

At 6th level, and again at 14th level, the ranger chooses another category of enemies to add to their favored opponents.

I was hesitant to eviscerate Favored Enemy too much, but it's just too weak of a class trait due to it being contingent on the Dungeon Master including the thing the ranger is good against. Instead, I gave them categories that work well at particular level bands; early level rangers are apt to pick Border Warden, Bounty Hunter, Destroyer of the Lifeless, or Nature's Culling due to the many low to mid-level opponents that belong to that group.

I also took out the bonus language, but that can easily be thrown back in. I'm on the fence; most player characters are already polyglots to some degree.

Fighting Style

Rather than reprint them all here and bloat the article, consider this part unchanged from the Player's Handbook; at 2nd level, the ranger gets a fighting style from among Archery, Defense, Dueling, or Two-Weapon Fighting. Their election of archetype may also give them other options (see below).

Ranger Archetype

At 2nd level, the ranger chooses an archetype that they strive to emulate: Beast Master, Seeker, Sentinel.

Yup, I'm saying they pick archetype at 2nd level instead. This may create some other problems I'm not foreseeing yet, but I have a good reason for it; I don't want the ranger to be forced to pick up spellcasting and I think it unwise to mess with the otherwise-recommended spell progression. Further, I wanted to give one of the archetypes a broader fighting style choice without saying, "Hey, you can totally respec here, it's cool."

My idea for Beast Master is different than the one presented in the PHB. Seeker becomes your spellcasting ranger, but my initial feeling is that I don't change their spell list too much. Sentinel is your heavily-armored wilderness badass, who also gains Great Weapon Fighter and Protection fighting styles as options as well as a third attack later on.

Preternatural Awareness

At 2nd level, the ranger becomes instinctively aware of imminent threats. You have advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks made to detect opponents in stealth; typically, this will manifest as a +5 bonus to passive Perception to detect hidden enemies.

Upon reaching 14th level, this ability also allows the ranger to better fight opponents capable of turning invisible or otherwise magically mask their presence. The ranger does not suffer disadvantage on attack rolls against creatures they cannot see. Additionally, the ranger is aware of the location of any invisible creature within 30 feet, provided the creature is not hidden (as with stealth) and you are not blinded or deafened.

I merged the Feral Senses ability with this one and made it available earlier.

Ability Score Improvement

This functions identically to how it is explained in the Player's Handbook.

Extra Attack

Same deal here, no change (extra attack at 5th level whenever making the Attack action).

Camouflage

This ability functions identically to the Hide in Plain Sight ability of the PHB ranger, but is instead accessible at 8th level. Totally nicking Mr. Delvo's suggestion (in the above linked Loot the Body blog article) for the proper name of the skill.

Pack Tactics

Once the ranger achieves 10th level, they may elect to use their reaction any time an ally makes an attack against an opponent the ranger attacked during the previous round. This attack gains advantage, and if it hits, the ranger may immediately move up to half their speed without suffering opportunity attacks.

Yield Ground

Upon reaching 13th level, the ranger becomes an expert at avoiding harm. Whenever you are subjected to a melee or ranged attack, you may use your reaction to impose disadvantage upon the attack. Regardless of whether or not the attack hits, you may immediately move up to half of your movement speed without provoking opportunity attacks.

This is probably overpowered as is. However, I like the idea of the ranger-as-skirmisher in general, and think this ability exemplifies that concept. They're really hard to pin down. It's basically a 5E-ification and beef-up of the 4E ranger power of the same name.

Master of the Wild

A ranger that achieves 17th level gains superior observation skills in any environment. After spending one minute studying the terrain, they can perform any of the following activities:

• Accurately predict the weather over the next two days.
• Determine the classification of the most dangerous predator within ten square miles (beast, dragon, monstrosity, etc.).
• Give their allies the ranger's secondary benefit of Natural Explorer (as it relates to Unimpeded, Impeded, or Close-Quarters terrain) until they take a short or long rest.
• Set up an ambush site, giving the ranger and their allies advantage on Dexterity (Stealth) checks while lying in wait for enemies. This bonus is lost if the group leaves the immediate area.

Next time, I'll go into the archetype ideas I had, but this provides the baseline. The ranger gets fewer random abilities of mediocre strength in exchange for boosted power on some of them. As with all of my stuff, it's not been playtested yet, and is a first draft of the concept. I'd love some constructive feedback on it!

The Trouble with Rangers

Rangers are on some people's minds lately.

There are numerous discussions involving the ranger class for 5th Edition and how, as presented in the Player's Handbook, it doesn't quite match up to the other classes in some respects. The ranger ideas recently presented in an Unearthed Arcana also seem somewhat wanting, with abilities that encourage multiclassing in a way that give even my most min-maxing munchkiny friends pause to say, "You know, that's kind of crazy broken."

I had some discussions with other designer friends who maintain that the ranger suffers from a lack of coherent theme. I mean, what do you compare them to? Are they the Aragorn, who seems to be a fighter in all but title? Or are they the Drizzt, with bizarre combat expertise and unusual supernatural abilities? Robin Hood the archer, who is more woodsy bandit than expert tracker? The World of Warcraft beastmaster, that relies on the strength of their animal companions to augment their middling combat expertise?

I don't know the answer. You could design four completely different ranger classes based on those archetypes and not make anyone happy. Ranger can't really be summed up in a single sentence without taking some liberties, the way fighter (really good at hurting things with weapons) or paladin (the holy champion of a god or cause) can.

It's weird, because ranger was my favorite class back in the day. I liked being able to skirmish with enemies at range or up close and disappear into the woods between battles, but you could do all of those things nowadays with a well-designed fighter/rogue (or hell, just a fighter with good skill selection).

Maybe most popular ranger concepts don't even need a class anymore, just an archetype bolted onto an existing one. Aforementioned skirmisher could be a fighter archetype, and encapsulate Drizzt quite well (some of his statistical interpretations are actually much more fighter than they are ranger). I'd contend that the ranger-as-champion-of-good better befits the Oath of Ancients paladin archetype than the ranger class (as intimated in the UA article linked above which calls them "paladins of the forest").

So I started dorking around, as I am want to do, blundering through the murky forest of rules and bad ideas to generate concepts based on that line of thinking. A feral beastmaster could easily be a barbarian archetype, who shares a bond with a tribal totem animal and fights alongside it (just, you know, not a carbon copy of the totemic path already presented). You could make a more spellcastery variant of the ranger from a druid path, a militant wing of natural guardians that belong to a "Circle of Blades" or something similar.

I could be way off base, but until the ranger gets an answer to what fictional or historic archetype it's trying to emulate, I think we're going to keep running into design problems with the class. I don't think anyone's happy with rangers right now.

Designing for New Editions

Over the last weeks, I've been attempting to determine the Way It's Done as it pertains to our relatively new 5th Edition D&D. The Unearthed Arcana articles have been an excellent insight into the design process that goes on in the heads of their creative-types, but minimal exposure to finished products is leaving me with a lack of surety on whether my design instincts are correct in my homebrew stuff.

The College of Shadows bard and the Circle of Dust druid are problematic. I look back on them now, with the bushy-eyebrowed frowny-face of an overly critical creative person, and mutter garbled curses in the forgotten tongues of the elder races. I could beat myself up over it, but really I think the crux of my problem is not having enough official products to establish a pattern in their design yet. The UA articles give me an idea, but they shouldn't considered final products by their own admission.

Off the blog, I've been working on updating an old homebrew setting of mine (because you're not a Dungeon Master if you didn't have some stupid malarkey you thought was a good idea back when you were fifteen and now you want to Do It Right), and creating character races from that setting is actually much harder than I expected it to be. What's balanced? What's fun? What's the Right Way to do it from a rules perspective?

To that end, I bought a couple products recently -- Midgard Heroes and Southlands Heroes, both from Kobold Press. They're not first party books, but the designers put a lot of effort into them and while the settings from which they hail are not something I'm likely to play (despite their coolness), their races are fun. Some are extrapolations of monster races into player ones (i.e. Centaur, Gnoll, Kobold, Lizardfolk), or totally reminiscent of things they might not have been intended to be (tell me the Alseids aren't directly translatable into Bariaur from Planescape and I'll call you a dirty liar).

Some are crazy new and have some awesome design ideas, like the Darakhul Ghoul whose traits are partially contingent on what player race they were before being turned into ghouls.

There are a couple tricks they used that I really like. For example, the Tosculi waspfolk in Southlands Heroes who are totally not a way to design Thri-Kreen from Dark Sun with a bit of work has the concept of Alternate Racial Traits, where you can swap out some racial abilities for others at the time of character creation so you can make a character that plays more to the strengths of the class you select. This way, you aren't saddled with some traits you'll never use and don't feel obligated to find an excuse to do so.

Their Lizardfolk from the same book have the same idea, but the alternate racial traits are there to emulate Lizardfolk who come from different tribes inspired by other reptiles, like geckos, chameleons, et cetera.

I think this is a fun design space to work in, and it helps me quite a bit in determining how I'd build some of my old race concepts in the new edition. However, I'm a bit sad that the idea of Racial Feats doesn't seem to have taken hold, because I think there's equal usefulness there that hasn't yet been tapped.

I suppose there's evidence to suggest that they don't want to paint all Dungeon Masters into a corner so they must use feats (where some might not want to; it does list them as optional in the preamble to chapter six in the Player's Handbook, after all). Still, they naturally use a gating mechanism (player level advancement, unless you wanted to have variant humans and human racial feats for your setting) and a rules plug-in that's already comfortable and established in the minds of its veteran players.

Anyway, the two books bring up some ways to handle future conversion stuff on top of all that. Their Centaurs are Large creatures, which immediately sends up flares about combat balance; between reach and fighting space, this can create severe headaches. However, they do logically call out that the "human" part of the Centaur is still no bigger than you'd expect and they still only use normally-sized weapons and armor (and have no reach).

You may be saying, "Well duh, Marsupialmancer," but this honestly didn't occur to me until I saw it here, which is part of the problem. I'm having trouble determining what consistencies are safe to mess with, in this case Large being Large was something that was safe and logical.

I still don't know what Wizards considers safe yet, so I am taking my cues from those whose day job this is at this point. I'm still not entirely comfortable messing with what I think are the established boundaries yet.

The Circle of Dust Druid Archetype

This archetype came to mind as I was brainstorming more 5th Edition Dark Sun stuff. At first I themed the archetype and its powers accordingly, but realized it could technically be used in any setting where widespread, catastrophic or near-catastrophic ruin is pervasive.

The archetype is intended to be a give-and-take healer role, supporting already potent druid curative magic with "healing battery" and damage redirection powers. Circle of Dust druids are also capable of assuming a unique form using their wild shape power and leeching off healing done in their presence, giving them synergy with allies capable of healing or in the presence of enemies that can cast healing spells.

Its downsides are it being somewhat "gamey" as far as 5th Edition archetypes go (it makes use of hit dice as a resource to be expended during non-rest situations) as well as potentially interrupting the actions of other players as the druid piggybacks off of events happening during play. It may also be horribly imbalanced, but without a proper playtest in lieu of napkin-math, I can only go with my gut feelings on the numbers.

The Circle of Dust

The Circle of Dust is an order of druids seen as something of an aberration by more traditional druids of the Circles of Land and the Moon. Some are sad, wandering prophets offering succor through sometimes frightening powers coaxed from a ravaged world. The worst of the lot are misbegotten, insane harbingers of apocalypse that preach doom and bring further ruin.

Entropic Exchange

Upon selecting this Circle at 2nd level, the druid gains the ability to siphon life force from healthy and hale allies in order to mend the wounds of others. Both targets must be willing to participate and be within 30 feet of the druid. The druid may act as the source if they so desire.

The source of the healing may donate hit dice up to a maximum of the level of the druid initiating the exchange. The dice are then rolled as though being used to recuperate during a short rest, and the total is given to the target of the exchange. The druid may use this power only thrice before requiring either a short or long rest.

A source that does not possess spendable hit dice (such as a monstrous ally) or one who no longer has hit dice to spend may instead elect to suffer 1d6 points of necrotic damage for each hit die they would have otherwise expended, with the damage total being used to fuel the healing on the target. Any excess is lost.

Theft of Life

Even if the druid of the Circle of Dust does not choose to cast healing magic of their own, their unique abilities allow them to "steal" life energy provided by such spells and use it for their own purposes. Beginning at 2nd level, the druid may use their reaction any time a spell or other magical power that restores lost hit points is used within 60 feet (either by an ally or an enemy). The druid may immediately expend a single hit die and roll it to recover from damage as though they had used it during a short rest.

Naturally, the uses of this power are limited by the number of remaining hit dice the druid possesses.

Ash and Wind

When the druid reaches 6th level, they can expend uses of their wild shape ability to transform into a cloud of dust and cooled embers. The ash and wind form has the following traits:

• You cannot make physical attacks, cast spells, or speak, but you gain resistance to bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage from non-magical attacks. You do not lose concentration on spells already cast. Upon reaching 18th level, you can cast spells while in this form (as per the beast spells druid ability).
• When you transform, you assume a hit point total equal to your Wisdom modifier times your level. If all these hit points are lost before you return to your druid form, you drop out of the ash and wind form just as you would with a normal use of wild shape to become an animal.
• You can fly at a speed of 40 feet.
• You can enter any space that is not air tight either through gaps (such as under a door) or cracks (such as in a thin wall). You cannot use this ability to enter magically-sealed locations such as those warded by arcane lock and similar spells, nor can it penetrate any force effect such as a wall of force or globe of invulnerability.
• You have advantage on Stealth checks to avoid notice, as you make very little to no noise.
• You cannot enter water of any volume. Doing so immediately ends the form.
• Natural high winds or the gust of wind spell can push you along easily; you are at disadvantage on Strength checks to resist.

Ash and wind otherwise obeys the rules and restrictions of wild shape in terms of duration, equipment, and actions used to assume or shed the form.

Resist Decay

Walking the line between survival and ruin grants a Circle of Dust druid significant resilience against effects that ravage the body. Upon reaching 10th level, the druid has advantage on saving throws against poison and disease and gains resistance to necrotic damage.

Wrack or Repeal

Suffering and destruction are such a part of the Circle of Dust that its most powerful druids can manipulate the echoes of harmful events. Upon achieving 14th level, a druid of the Circle of Dust can wrack or repeal as a reaction any time the druid or an ally within 60 feet suffers from any event that causes hit point damage such as from a physical attack or a fireball spell. The damage suffered is immediately halved and the druid can decide what to do with the remaining half, electing to either wrack or repeal.

If the druid elects to wrack, half of the damage is immediately inflicted back upon the attacker. This damage is of the same type as the triggering attack. For example, if a druid's ally is damaged by a fireball that causes 32 points of damage, using wrack reduces the damage suffered to 16 and inflicts 16 fire damage upon the caster of the fireball. If the caster were resistant to fire, they would suffer half of that damage.

If the druid elects to repeal, half of the damage is converted to healing and can be distributed to any number of allies within 60 feet of the druid, so long as they are not the same individual whose damage was reduced. Using the same above example, the druid could distribute 16 points of healing to any allies that are not the initial target.

The druid may use wrack or repeal once upon reaching 14th level, gaining an additional use at 16th, 18th, and 20th level (for a total of four uses). These uses recharge after a long rest.